Jan. 25, 2012

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Green Bay Press-Gazette

Sex offenders are moving into Green Bay without the city's approval, according to local officials who say state probation agents are ignoring a local ordinance aimed at controlling where sex offenders live.

Some city officials want the probation agents prosecuted under a city ordinance aimed at monitoring and controlling the sex offender population.

"We set up laws to protect the people," Alderman Andy Nicholson said. "And the state is ignoring us?"

In December, probation agent Erin Murto admitted that one of her parolees, sex offender Jaret Weber, was living without city approval near two west-side elementary schools, local officials said.

Convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting a child, Weber, 34, was living in an apartment at 1600 Janice Ave., about a half-mile from both Kennedy Elementary School and Holy Family School.

A city ordinance prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or other places where children gather. To move into a restricted area, an offender must first get approval from the city's Sex Offender Residence Board.

The penalty for violating the ordinance is $500 a day, which also applies to a landlord who harbors an unapproved offender.

Murto told members of the Sex Offender Residence Board that Weber was living in the Janice Avenue apartment with her approval "instead of being homeless and a danger to the community." The board ultimately voted by a narrow margin to allow Weber to remain at that location.

But board chairman Dean Gerondale later told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he was disappointed to learn a state employee would knowingly violate the city's ordinance.

"She basically went around the whole thing," Gerondale said. "There's no excuse. They all know the ordinance."

Contacted at her office in Green Bay, Murto declined to comment on Tuesday.

Linda Eggert, a corrections department spokeswoman, released a statement Tuesday that probation agents sometimes allow offenders to live in Green Bay "pending local approval." Forcing offenders to become homeless while a residency request is being processed would make their movements difficult to track, Eggert said.

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"In short," she added, "allowing offenders to apply for residency while maintaining their residence is a practice that ensures public safety."

Eggert's statement did not indicate how many times state agents have allowed offenders to live in Green Bay without city approval.

Assistant City Attorney Kail Decker said he has found at least one other instance in which the situation occurred recently at the Village Inn hotel, 119 N. Monroe Ave.

Although he does not believe the city could pursue prosecution of state employees, Decker said he plans to draft a letter to the state corrections department asking for cooperation in enforcing the local ordinance.

City officials approved the ordinance in 2007 to give Green Bay control over sex offenders by making it virtually impossible for them to live anywhere in the city without prior approval from the five-member board appointed by the City Council.

The board meets once a month and publicly reviews each offender's request in detail before deciding whether to approve it.

Decker said probation agents seem to struggle with the time required to get their clients in front of the board — and sometimes discover that a client has moved into Green Bay in the interim.

"How to handle that situation has been the tough part," Decker said.

The Press-Gazette reported last summer that some offenders have been held behind bars after their prison sentences expire until suitable housing can be found for them. At the time, Green Bay Police Chief Jim Arts also warned of an "underground" population of sex offenders — possibly numbering as many as 30 — who lived in the community without reporting their whereabouts to police, as required by state law.

Alderman Chris Wery called it disturbing that state probation agents now are turning their backs on violations of the city's ordinance. Wery said he, too, wants to find a way to hold those state employees accountable.

"It doesn't seem to make any sense if they can just break any law they want," Wery said.

The issue surfaced in December as Nicholson pushed for improving the way the city notifies residents when a sex offender seeks permission to move into their neighborhood.

Nicholson said he suspects state probation agents have been circumventing the city's ordinance more often than has been shown so far.